After months of building tension with leaks about the specs, design, screen and chipset, the Samsung Galaxy S23 is finally on the market.

Samsung had its Samsung Unpacked event last week and presented all new Samsung devices including the S23, S23+ and the S23 Ultra.

After reading this blog, you will know whether one of the new premium devices is worth your money. We will be talking about the following topics:

• Specifications
• Design
• display
• Camera
• Performance
• Software
• Battery
• Price & Availability
• Conclusion

Galaxy S23 Review: Specifications

	S23	S23+	S23 Ultra
Size	146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6mm	157.8x76.2x7.6mm	163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9mm
Weight	167 grams	195 grams	233 grams
Housing front and back	Gorilla Glass Victus 2	Gorilla Glass Victus 2	Gorilla Glass Victus 2
display	6.1 inches, 1080x2340, 425 ppi	6.6 inches, 1080x2340, 390 ppi	6.8 inches, 3088x1440, 501 ppi
chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Storage	128GB or 256GB	256GB or 512GB	256GB, 512GB or 1TB
Random access memory	8GB	8GB	8GB or 12GB
Software	Android 13, OneUI 5.1	Android 13, OneUI 5.1	Android 13, OneUI 5.1
Camera	50MP, 12MP, 10MP	50MP, 12MP, 10MP	200MP, 12MP, 10MP, 10MP
selfie camera	12MP	12MP	12MP
Battery capacity	3900mAh	4700mAh	5000mAh

You may notice that all three Galaxy S23 phones run on the same chipset. However, its operation differs depending on the storage/working memory. What really distinguishes the phones, apart from the size, is the camera, the (working) memory capacity and the battery life.

Galaxy S23 Review: Design

The first thing you notice about the S23 series is that the cameras no longer have a camera island. The cameras are separate from each other on the glossy glass back made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The front is also made of this sturdy type of glass.

The S23 and S23+ have the same size as their predecessor. They are light, small phones that sit comfortably in your hands. The S22 Ultra and S23 Ultra are not the same size, but the difference between the S22 Ultra and the S23 Ultra is minimal. If you have both phones in your hands, you won't notice this.

As mentioned earlier, the front and back of the S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra are housed with Gorilla Glass Victus 2. What is remarkable about this is that the glass is partly made of recycled glass. Other parts of these premium smartphones are also made from recycled material. The volume and on/off buttons and the speaker at the top are also made of recycled material.

The S23 Ultra has one more perk, namely the built-in S Pen . This allows you to quickly take notes or take photos wirelessly. The S23 and S23+ do not have an S Pen. In fact, the S Pen doesn't work on the S23 and S23+.

The standard colors for the S23 series devices are Green, Phantom Black, Lavender and Cream.

S23 Ultra variant:

For the S23 and S23+, the exclusive colors are Graphite and Lime.

 For the S23 Ultra, the exclusive colors are Graphite, Sky Blue, Lime and Red.

In addition to these great features, the S23 series has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, just like before.

Galaxy S23 Review: Display

The S23 and S23+ have almost the same dynamic AMOLED 3x Infinity-O FHD+ screen . Still, the S23 beats the S23+ at 425 pixels per index (ppi). The S23+ has 393 ppi and the S23 Ultra has 501ppi.

In addition, the displays of both screens have a maximum brightness of 1750 nits , so you can also see your screen well in sunlight. The adaptive refresh rate of the S23 and S23+ is between 48 Hz and 120 Hz, the same as last year. With the S23 Ultra, this is 1 to 120 Hz, which allows you to save battery.

The new smart Vision Booster gives you higher brightness and brighter color reproduction with a screen that refreshes extra quickly. This makes videos look even better and your screen responds faster to touches. This is ideal while gaming on your phone.

Furthermore, the screens are available in 3 sizes:

• Galaxy S23: 6.1 inches
• Galaxy S23+: 6.6 inches
• Galaxy S23 Ultra: 6.8 inches

The S23 and S23+ have a high Full HD+ resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. Is this not enough for you and do you want to go for the extreme? Then choose the Quad HD+ screen of the S23 Ultra with a resolution of 3088 x 1440.

Galaxy S23 Review: Camera

	Main camera	Ultra wide camera	Telephoto camera	selfie camera
Galaxy S23	50MP	12MP	10MP	12MP
Galaxy S23+	50MP	12MP	10MP	12MP
Galaxy S23 Ultra	200MP	12MP	10MP (2x)	12MP

The camera itself hasn't changed much on the S23 and S23+, just like last year there's a 50 MP main camera , 12 MP ultra wide camera and a 10 MP telephoto camera.

It's the same cameras on the Galaxy S23 and S23+, but the power of the snapdragon 8 gen 2 gives the cameras that little something extra. The new algorithm allows the processor to produce better portrait mode shots that provide sharper photos. You can also now record 8K videos at up to 30 FPS (frames per second) , up from 24 FPS before.

The S23 Ultra has a 200 MP main camera , a 12 MP ultra wide camera, a 10 MP telephoto camera and a 10 MP secondary telephoto camera. With this powerful camera, you can see the details a lot sharper than with the 108 MP camera of the S22 Ultra.

Galaxy S23 Review: Performance

All S23 devices are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy , this chip ensures that your S23 device is more energy efficient and offers higher read and write speeds. You will notice this especially when opening apps that demand a lot from your chipset. For example, games in which sharp graphics play an important role. The more storage and (working) memory your device has, the faster it can open and process the larger apps.

• Storage and RAM Samsung Galaxy S23: 128 GB or 256 GB and 8 GB
• Storage and RAM Samsung Galaxy S23+: 256 GB or 512 GB and 8 GB
• Storage and RAM Samsung Galaxy S23+: 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB and 8 or 12 GB

Galaxy S23 Review: Software

Fresh out of the box, the S23 devices run on Android 13 with One UI 5.1. With the new software, there are endless multitasking options with widgets and new features with the SmartThings Hub. Furthermore, a new mode is available that allows you to add customized settings of your life such as sleep, sports or work.

The update policy has also been improved, the new flagships come out with the promise that they will get 4 major Android updates and 5 years of security updates . This means that we can update the software with the S23 devices up to and including Android 17.

Galaxy S23 Review: Battery

The battery capacity of the S22 was disappointing due to a reduction of 300 mAh compared to its predecessor. This year Samsung comes with an improvement of 200 mAh which is good, but not as great as the battery capacity of the S21, which had a battery capacity of 4000 mAh.

The S23 has a battery capacity of 3900 mAh (approximately 15 hours), the S23+ has a battery capacity of 4700 mAh (approximately 17 hours) and the S23 Ultra has a battery capacity of 5000 mAh (approximately 18 hours).

The charging speed of the S23 is still a disappointing 25W, with this your phone is fully charged in about an hour and a quarter. The S23+ and S23 Ultra charge at a speed of 45W. This is not great for what you expect from that price. You can also charge your S23 device wirelessly with a speed of 10W.

Galaxy S23 Review: Price and Availability

Samsung launched the Samsung Galaxy S23 along with the Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra on February 1. The S23 devices are all available in the shop.

The price differs per region, we previously estimated that the price of the S23 would be € 900. We were wrong with € 49, -. The prices of the S23 devices are as follows:

Storage/working memory	S23	S23+	S23 Ultra
128GB/ 8GB	€949
256GB/ 8GB	€1009,-	€1199,-	€1399,-
512GB/ 8GB		€1319,-
512GB/ 12GB			€1579,-
1TB/12GB			€1819,-

Don't forget to check out our Samsung cases if you're planning to buy an S23.

Galaxy S23 Review: Conclusion

The Samsung S23 series consists of three excellent phones that give the iPhone 14 series and the Google Pixel 7 a hard time in the market. There are plenty of reasons to switch to an S23 if you have an older phone like the S20. If you have a phone that was released about a year ago, such as the S22, the difference will not be very big. Unless you choose to take an S23+ for better battery capacity or take the extreme route and take an S23 Ultra for the camera, battery capacity and refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz.